SQL Server 2008 Books and Certifications

Dear friends,

While learning something new is difficult it is also fun. If you are a professional or seasoned SQL Server 2005 DBA/Developer you have lots of materials and books at your disposal for learning SQL Server 2008. You obviously can't read and learn all of them but a good selection will make you at ease. I recommend anyone who wants to learn SQL Server 2008 the following titles which I found useful. Please feel free to comment and add any more titles you really think are useful.

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (Free E-Book Offer)
Accelerated SQL Server 2008 from Apress

Pro SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services by Apress

Personally I love to read Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kit books for detailed knowledge and certifications. See below:

MCTS and MCITP on SQL Server 2008

For details please visit the following link to download the Certification Path Document for SQL Server 2008 designed and published by Microsoft. It is updated with required exams and recommended trainings and books as well as MCM and MCA certifications.

SQL Server 2008 Certification Path

Edition Change Check (Warning)

Edition Change Check (Warning)

This is the most common warning message reported on Windows Vista and Windows 7 related to SQL Server installation. There are various reasons for this message but the most common issue is to run the setup from the same DVD from which you first installed SQL Server 2005. I have faced this issue several times on different machines running Windows Vista and Windows 7 Evaluation build 7100. My findings are as follows:

Whenever you run SQL Server setup.exe on a Vista or Windows 7 machine the system configuration checker checks the system it issues this warning (Edition Change Check). No matter what Edition of SQL Server is installed on the system perviously. The prime reason behind this is that you have installed and applied service packs on SQL Server instance and its components. The installer you are running first gives you the compatibility warning and once you ignore it and run the setup, it will give you Edition change check warning. There are two approaches to this:

1. Ignore the message and continue
2. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup from a command line and provide the upgarede option as follows:

Setup.exe SKUUPGRADE = 1

This will run the setup with upgrade option and the Edition Check warning disappears. See below:

Hope it helps.

Unhandled Exception, Error while switching panels, SSRS, SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

I tried to add reporting services today to my existing SQL Server 2005 instance on Windows 7. I installed it successfully however upon first run I faced an Unhandled Exception in WMI Component. Also when I clicked Server Status or any other option it said unable to switch panels WMI error again. Well upon googling it for a while I found nothing useful and thought to dig it myself. I came to the conclusion that there must be some difference between Service packs. I queried my server and found that I had installed SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3). However reporting service has just been installed and the SP3 wasn’t applied to it. Here is how I resolved:


Problem:

1. Error I faced upon first run of SSRS Configuration Manager

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
2. Second Error I faced when I clicked on the panel on left side

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
Resolution:
1. Download the relevant service pack you have already applied to SQL Server or most probably you already have it as you have installed it before.

2. In my case I had applied SP3 before I installed SSRS. You can download it here:

3. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ae7387c3-348c-4faa-8ae5-949fdfbe59c4&displaylang=en

4. You can download the versions for x86, x64 or IA64 versions depending upon you hardware and OS platform. I download this one SQLServer2005SP3-KB955706-x86-ENU

5. Once downloaded double click it and you will see the following screen:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


6. By default the checkboxes will be selected for whatever component the service pack wasn’t applied and in our case its Reporting Services
7. Hit Next

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

8. Once the service pack is applied you would see the above screen hit Next again then the following screen

9. The last screen will be the following. You don’t need to apply windows vista provision tool at this stage since you must have already added your windows user to sysadmin group using this tool when you first installed SQL Server2005 on Vista or Windows 7. If not then do that too

Hope it Helps.